{Review and Giveaway} Apologetics Study Bible for Students

August 10, 2015

If you are a Christian with teens in your life, today’s book review and giveaway is just for you. I got a free copy of the Apologetics Study Bible for Students from Propeller FlyBy Promotions to review, and they’ve got an extra copy for one of you, too. Learn more about the Bible and check out my review below, then scroll to the bottom of the post to find out how to enter to win a copy for yourself or a teen in your life.

About the Bible

The Apologetics Study Bible for Students will ground Christian students in the truths of Scripture by equipping them with thoughtful and practical responses to difficult and heartfelt challenges to core issues of faith and life. It’s the study Bible that will actually help students articulate their faith. Think of it as Christian apologetics 101.

The Features of The Apologetics Study Bible for Students HCSB include:

Book Introductions for each of the 66 books of the Bible

Study Notes provide evidence of the reliability and truthfulness of Scripture.

120 Articles written by today’s leading Christian thinkers dealing with life’s ultimate questions.

Two-color design-intensive layout on every page for the visual generation

25 Tactics will equip students to withstand opposition to Christianity by outlining tactics and strategies for handling frequently heard anti-Christian arguments.

20 Personal Stories will encourage and strengthen readers in their faith by describing how God has worked dramatically in peoples lives.

20 Top Five are bullet point lists that help readers remember significant apologetics topics.

My Review

The main reason I wanted to review this Bible is because I’ve been wanting to get a Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) for myself, and I wanted to check out the translation more. I have to say, it’s really well done! If you are interested, you can learn more about this translation here.

The second reason I wanted to review this Bible is because I have four kids and am involved in youth ministry online. I thought this student Bible would be perfect as I answer questions for teens via e-mail on a fairly regular basis and thought this might help, and I hoped to be able to pass it on to my younger son in a few years.

Here’s a little bit more about this particular Bible:

While the hardcover of this Bible makes it durable, the pages are insanely thin and easy to rip. (It is also available in paperback, which I would never recommend for a child/teen.)

I will say that this Bible is for older teens, maybe 16 and up. It addresses sensitive questions that I am not ready to expose my 10 year old to. My 12 year old might be ready for them, but not really, and I already purchased him a new Bible when he was baptized this year.

I love the personal stories that are included. They really help you take what you are learning and apply it to real life.

While I really liked the layout of this Bible overall, I didn’t care for the quotes from famous Christians sprinkled throughout the Scriptures. They might have been okay if they were more set apart, but they were inline with the verses and only set apart by font color.

The Twisted Scripture sections were awesome.

The Bones & Dirt sections are full of great historical information and scripture references.

I was less than impressed when the first question I looked up didn’t actually give an answer. My student and I were looking up how old the earth was and the article didn’t give an answer. Instead, it explained that there are two different viewpoints among Christians, one has the earth at millions of years, and the other at tens of thousands at most. It explains them in a bit more detail, but doesn’t give any real numbers or answers. Thus, when my son and I looked up the answer to this question, it actually caused more questions than it answered, and we had to go online to do our research elsewhere. (FYI: Answers in Genesis has the earth at roughly 6,000 years old.) Other questions were handled much, much better, but I was disappointed with this one, though it did lead to some quality discussion with my son.

I will also add that a lot of the questions they answered were questions that my son thought were obvious–like, anyone who has been going to church since birth would know. But it could just be that we have attended some really awesome churches. I did especially like the sections on sharing your faith though.

All that said, the youth pastor at our church LOVES this Bible. And while it isn’t my favorite, I still think it is a great resource and would recommend checking it out. By the way, it’s available on Amazon and from Lifeway.

Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

Guidelines: Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win. Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.

Giveaway ends August 17th, 2015.

BONUS

If you go to ApologeticsBible.com, you can watch multiple apologetics videos by Sean McDowell. I was surprised that this link is included nowhere in the Bible (at least, not that I could find), but I was watched several of them and thought they were great. McDowell takes tough questions and simplifies them in a way that makes the answer seem obvious, if a little less than serious. He is extremely upbeat and happy–which of course isn’t a bad thing.

I absolutely LOVED Sean’s video titled, “Can God make a rock so big he can’t lift it?” It was last week’s featured video and I’ve embedded it below. Be sure to hop on over to ApologeticsBible.com to check out his other videos and find out more about the other resources he has available — including free resources like Bible studies and articles, as well as wonderful specials on apps and Bibles. There are new resources every week — a full 16 weeks of resources when it is all done. AND, if that weren’t enough, a Confident Faith Sweepstakes is being offered to give away Bibles, free mini libraries of B&H Publishing Group’s best apologetics resources and even a trip for two to the National Conference on Christian Apologetics (NCCA) being held October 16-17, 2015 in Charlotte, NC where some of the world’s leading thinkers will offer insights and teaching.

Heather Hart is an internationally best-selling and award-winning author who has an unquenchable passion for Jesus. Her desire is to help women of all ages embrace who they were created to be and find their true beauty in Christ. Heather knows that one thing every girl needs is a little honesty, so she’s not afraid to get candid and share her struggles. Her hope is that through her writing, she can help others soak up the love of Jesus.

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